Be My Eyes App Helps Blind and Low Vision People

"I like helping ppl and this mad cool and convenient."

We all need a little help sometime, whether it's reaching something in a tall place when you're short, opening a stuck jar if your hand is slipping, or reading the expiration date on a carton of milk if you're blind. If there's no one around to help you, things can be tough, but one app is making that a little easier for blind or low vision people. The app, Be My Eyes, connects blind or low vision people who need help or have a question with people who can help them. Recently, the app gained a ton of new users after a tweet about it went viral, including a retweet from SZA.

"There’s this app where you can help a blind person with a problem they’re having and it’s mad wavy," a tweet from @FlyGuyFrancis98, who goes by Frank on Twitter, that has more than 60,000 retweets said. People who need help seeing can use the app to ask questions like what the washing instructions on their clothes say, whether their food is expired, whether an outfit matches, and more. The tweet includes screen shots of the app, and a recommendation to download it — and it seems people have done just that.

According to Alexander Hauerslev Jensen, community director at Be My Eyes, the tweet drove more than 100,000 new users to the app. The reason, Alexander thinks, is because it fosters something everyone can get behind: genuine human connection.

"I think the reason for this is that it is very easy to understand the value of Be My Eyes for everyone, and there is something very pure and good about the connection between people," Alexander told Teen Vogue. "I think it is very human to want to help someone, but on a busy day, it can be hard to find the time. That is why Be My Eyes works so well — because it is very easy to have a big impact on another person's life."